by the University of Michigan

Members of antiwar movement CODEPINK hold a candlelight vigil to oppose the escalation of the war in Afghanistan at the new Federal Building on Thursday, Dec. 3. The group demands for a redirection of resources toward human needs. “This escalation is hopeless. Afghanistan needs an escalation of humanitarianaid and jobs, not war, the group’s, says the group in a written statement. (photo by Marvin J. Ramirez)

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Video games can make children kinder and more likely to help – not hurt – other people.­

That’s the conclusion of ne­w research published in the current (June 2009) issue of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, a top-tier, peer-reviewed academic journal.

The article presents the findings of three separate studies, conducted in different countries with different age groups, and using different scientific approaches. All the studies find that playing games with prosocial content causes players to be more helpful to others after the game is over.

The report is co-authored by a consortium of researchers from the U.S., Japan, Singapore, and Malaysia.

“Dozens of studies have documented a relationship between violent video games and aggressive behaviors,” says lead author Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State University psychologist. “But this is one of the first that has documented the positive effects of playing prosocial games.”

“These studies show the same kind of impact on three different age groups from three very different cultures,” says Brad Bushman, a University of Michigan co-author of the report. “In addition, the studies use different analytic approaches – correlational, longitudinal, and experimental. The resulting triangulation of evidence provides the strongest possible proof that the findings are both valid and generalizable.”

“These studies document that children and adolescents learn from practicing behaviors in games,” added Rowell Huesmann, another U-M co-author of the report.

One study examined the link between video game habits and prosocial behavior among 727 secondary students in Singapore, with a mean age of 13. Students listed their favorite games and rated how often game characters helped, hurt, or killed other characters. They also answered questions about how likely they were to spend time and money helping people in need, to cooperate with others and share their belongings, and to react aggressively in various situations.

As in numerous other studies, the researchers found a strong correlation between playing violent video games and hurting others. But the study also found a strong correlation between playing prosocial games and helping others.

The second study analyzed the long-term connection between video game habits and prosocial behavior in nearly 2,000 Japanese children ages 10 to 16. Participants completed a survey about their exposure to prosocial video games, and rated how often they had helped other people in the last month. Three to four months later, they were surveyed again, and researchers found a signifi­cant connection between exposure to prosocial games and helpful behavior months later.

“This suggests there is an upward spiral of prosocial gaming and helpful behavior, in contrast to the downward spiral that occurs with violent video gaming and aggressive behavior,” says Bushman, a professor of communications and psychology and a research professor at the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR).

For the third study, the researchers carried out an experiment with 161 U.S. college students, mean age 19. After playing either a prosocial, violent, or neutral game, participants were asked to assign puzzles to a randomly selected partner. They could chose from puzzles that were easy, medium, or hard to complete. Their partner could win $10 if they solved all the puzzles. Those who played a prosocial game were considerably more helpful than others, assigning more easy puzzles to their partners. And those who had played violent games were signifi cantly more likely to assign the hardest puzzles.

“Taken together, these fi ndings make it clear that playing video games is not in itself good or bad for children,” says Bushman. “The type of content in the game has a bigger impact than the overall amount of time spent playing.”

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by the El Reportero’s news service

Porfirio (‘Pepe’) Lobo

Early today (30 November), with just under 62 percent of the votes counted, Porfirio (‘Pepe’) Lobo of the conservative traditional Partido Nacional (PN) was declared the winner in yesterday’s presidential election, with an estimated 57.16 percent of the first-past-the-post vot­e, to 33.42 percent for his nearest rival, Elvin Santos of the ruling Partido Liberal (PL). The PN also took 17 of the 18 departments in the country, with the PL securing just one (the southern coastal La Paz).

Turnout was an estimated 61.3 percent (just over 2.5m of the total 4.6m registered and legally obliged to vote) according to the supreme electoral court (TSE), a figure strongly disputed by the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, who claimed abstention was close to 65 percent. The count was impressively quick and efficient, bearing in mind that it took 12 days in 2005 for the authorities to determine who had won, let alone count all the votes. Lobo immediately declared that the time for division “is over”, and announced that he would form a government of national unity and reconciliation, “without excluding anyone”.

The U.S., which is desperate to sweep this crisis under the carpet, looks set to recognize the vote, seeing it as an important pragmatic step on the path towards na­tional reconciliation.

by Erick Galindo

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Another historic moment in the capital and Latinos are once again stuck in the middle.

The Senate voted along party lines Nov. to begin debating landmark health care legislation paving the way for the creation a health care exchange that will cover 94 percent of the U.S. population and include a public option.

All 58 Democrats and two independents voted to allow the bill to reach the Senate floor, while its 39 Republicans opposed action. The Senate begins debate on bill after the Thanksgiving recess.

Unlike the House bill, which passed two weeks ago, the Senate version contains requirement that, to be eligible to participate, naturalized immigrants must have had U.S. residency status for at least five years. The Senate bill also contains a provision preventing undocumented workers from purchasing insurance from the health care exchange, leaving at least 7 million Hispanics without health insurance.

Bob Menéndez (D-N.J.), the lone Hispanic in the Senate, told Hispanic Link News Service he is optimistic that the waiting period for documented immigrants would be removed in conference when the House and Senate work to reconcile their bills.

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) noted to Hispanic Link that the House bill does make exceptions to the five-year ban for children and expectant mothers.

However, removing the Senate bill’s ban against undocumented immigrants may prove difficult. The White House endorsed the Senate provisions and has rebuffed efforts by the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that would allow undocumented immigrants the ability to purchase health insurance.

President Obama remains adamant “that the way you deal with” undocumented immigrants is by providing them with a path to legalize their status. Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) says he plans to introduce such a comprehensive immigration reform package in the House soon.

Days ahead of the Senate cloture vote, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (DNev.) stood with the rest of the Democrat leadership team Nov. 19 and, with a broad smile, told reporters, “We will pass major health care legislation.” He compared its importance to the passage of Social Security and Medicare.

Menéndez added the caution, “But the path ahead is a long one.” Challenges to the Senate bill still loom as a number of centrist Democrats have expressed concerns over its inclusion of a public option, even though individual states could opt out of the government-run health insurance program.

­A majority vote will be required for any amendments to the Senate bill, where the Democrats hold sway. The bill expands Medicaid and provides subsidies for persons of low income to help them buy private insurance or insurance under the public option. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Offi ce, the cost of the legislation would be offset and bill would reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion.

It would also make health insurance a requirement for most people living in the United States.

­by the El Reportero’s news services

Alberto Fujimori

Peru’s former president Alberto Fujimori was convicted for the fourth and final time on 30 September.

He pleaded guilty to the charges of corruption against him. Fujimori had a clear ulterior motive: to expedite a trial that would have exposed the full extent ­of his kleptocracy and, by extension, damaged the prospects of his daughter Keiko winning the presidency in 2011.

Keiko has promised to pardon her father if she wins. Opinion polls suggest that she has a fair chance of winning, as the ruling Partido Aprista Peruano (PAP) is discredited, the Left is currently split, and her main rival in the polls is over-reliant on Lima for his popularity.

by José de la Isla

Barak Obama

Democratic U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois won the presidential election Nov. 4 over Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain of Arizona with substantial Hispanic voter help from key states. Edison-Mitofsky exit polls estimate that Hispanics supported Obama nationwide by a margin of 67 percent to 31 percent.

At least 10 million Latinos voted, estimates Janet Murguía, president of the  National Council of La Raza NCLR was part of the coalition effort by Hispanic organizations to boost voter registrations. Actual Latino voter turnout is estimated at 9 percent of the national electorate.

The often-mentioned swing-states scenario—involving Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Florida, states with large numbers of Hispanic voters—proved true. The policy analysis group NDN reported the day for lowing the election that Obama’s victory margins in those four states were attributable to the Latino vote. Obama’s level of support from Hispanics comes as the second major voting-pattern shift in as many elections.

In 2004, attention was drawn to the 40 percent-plus level of support President Bush received during his re-election bid when he faced Democrat John Kerry.

The swing back to 2-to-1 in favor of Obama reflects a return to the mostly historical voting pattern.

In key battleground states (see table on p. 2) the results show Latinos made substantial, even unprecedented, contributions in electing the new president. Even in embattled Virginia, for instance, where Hispanics make up only 6 percent of the population (a full third under 16), they provided Obama 28 percent of his victory margin in that state.

In early September, pollster Sergio Bendixen revealed at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute public-policy conference that Hispanic public-opinion surveys already indicated Latinos strongly favoring Obama in these critically important swing states. Only Florida was stale mated in a virtual tie between the Democratic and Republican candidates. Huge voter-registration and voter-turn out efforts followed, ­along with unprecedented levels of funding for campaign advertising.

On election night, Florida and Virginia were undecided when Ohio swung for Obama. As polls closed in New Mexico and Colorado networks held off calling the race until precincts closed in the West.

Elections analyst and former director of the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project Andrew Hernandez had earlier predicted to Weekly Report he envisioned Latinos getting credit for the election only if John McCain were able to win Ohio and Florida, hold on to Virginia, and Obama picked up New Hampshire and lowa.

“Then it’s a Latino narrative,” he said, because the election would hinge on New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada to put him over the top. “That, of course, can’t happen until the sun rises over San Francisco Bay.”

The day following the election, pollsters and analysts were reporting that young voters and “minorities,” alluding to Latinos, had put Obama over the top. And the sun was reported rising over Golden Gate Bridge. Hispanic Link.